“It can be a struggle to make time for yourself”—a Pilates teacher shares the exact weekly workout routine that lets her build strength and stay mobile

Welcome to Workout Diaries, a series where we ask expert trainers to talk us through what a week of exercise looks like for them, helping you figure out how to develop and maintain an effective workout routine.

Brittni Johnson is a certified Pilates instructor (NCPT) with a background in competitive gymnastics and professional dance.

Highly skilled across multiple modalities, including reformer, mat-based and spine corrector, she now specializes in Pilates for seniors.

“My love for fitness started when I was young,” says the BetterMe instructor.

“I was a competitive gymnast for 12 years and with that came a lot of conditioning, which became my favorite part of the sport. I was just a little girl who was obsessed with getting stronger.”

Johnson went on to pursue a dance career, which led her to Pilates to keep her body strong and supple. “It really served me well in terms of injury prevention and longevity within my dance career,” she tells Fit&Well from her home in California.

From the stage to the studio, she’s been teaching Pilates for eight years and practicing it for 18, but one of her driving forces is to help everyone embrace exercise like she has.

“I try to keep [my routine] pretty well-rounded,” she says. “A little bit of weights, a little bit of Pilates, a little bit of cardio. I’ve always been a really active person—I just can’t sit still.

“I know that doesn’t always come naturally for everybody, so my goal as a trainer is to help create that lifestyle for people so that [being active] becomes second nature—they get up and work out the same way they get up and brush their teeth.”

While exercise has become her way of life, she admits it can often be a struggle to fit everything in, so further below she’s provided tips for building a realistic workout routine you can stick to.

“For me,” she says, “it’s all about the long game—staying healthy, injury prevention, keeping your body healthy and strong.”

Here, Johnson shares a snapshot of a typical week in her Pilates pumps.

Brittni Johnson’s Weekly Workout Routine

Johnson says she tends to work out first thing in the morning, typically between 6 and 9am.

Monday
60-90min upper-body push/pull strength workout

Tuesday
60min BetterMe mat-based Pilates and lots of steps

Wednesday
60-90min lower-body strength workout

Thursday
Active recovery walk and mobility

Friday
60-90min upper-body and core strength workout

Saturday
Cardio and 60min BetterMe mat-based Pilates

Sunday
Rest day

Brittni Johnson’s advice for building a workout routine

Johnson says she typically teaches 10 Pilates classes per week, works with three or four individual clients and tries to squeeze in 10-12 hours of exercise for herself.

However, like anyone with a busy schedule, she acknowledges it can sometimes be difficult to prioritize her own health and fitness.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle to make time for yourself,” she says, “but carving out this time is so important.” Here are the failsafes she bakes into her routine when time is tight.

Make your workouts shorter

If you’re running low on time, simply make your workout shorter and focus on the exercises that target multiple muscle groups at once, like squats and deadlifts.

“You don’t always have to hit three or four sets per exercise,” says Johnson. “Twenty minutes is better than nothing.”

Take exercise snacks

Johnson similarly encourages her clients to snack more.

“Exercise snack breaks, like a 10-minute mobility flow or 10 minutes of walking between meetings, can be really beneficial.

“You don’t need to complete a full workout. Just make sure you’re moving your body throughout the day and try to avoid being too sedentary for too long.”

Walk between meetings

If time is so short you don’t even have time to get into your workout gear and exercise, Johnson says taking a walk can help give your mind and muscles a boost.

“Simply going for a walk, especially outside if it’s a nice day, can work wonders for both mental and physical health,” she says.